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Polypropylene (PP) melt-blown (MB) filter cartridges are widely used in many fields requiring water purification, such as households, the food industry, industrial processes, and recycled water filtration. While the demand for filters has gradually increased, the environmental requirements and conditions have become severe. The filters are easily deformed from higher liquid pressure during operation and setup and need to be replaced frequently. With the lifetime of filters shortened, manpower increases to replace filters. Hence, the inner structure of a PP melt-blown filter cartridge is supported by a frame structure to resist higher liquid pressure for enhancing filtration efficiency and lifetime. The filter, known as a “frame-type melt-blown filter cartridge”, does not affect the user’s application environment and equipment. This article focuses on developing continuous production equipment for frame-type melt-blown filter cartridges. The core technology of the equipment is the mechanism design for conveying frame tubes integrated with the MB process. The PP fiber is simultaneously melted and blown on the frame tube, and the frame tube needs to be pushed forward while rotating. This mechanism can independently control the fiber’s rotational speed and push speed. The rotational speed affects the surface density, fiber diameter, and porosity of the melt-blown filter cartridge, and the push speed affects the core diameter and weight of the melt-blown filter cartridge. In addition, there is a frame tube feeding device at the input end of the conveying equipment for continuously carrying the frame tube. Then, the finally formed melt-blown filter cartridges enter the cutting machine to trim a certain length to complete a frame-type melt-blown filter cartridge. The complexity of the operation is simplified by a human–machine interactive interface. A programmable logic controller (PLC) and a LabVIEW human–machine interactive interface are used to dominate the equipment. The Modbus communication protocol is adopted for connecting and communicating between PLC and LabVIEW. The interface can integrate and analyze the process data, including overall equipment effectiveness (OEE), total effective equipment performance (TEEP), loading time, utilization, performance, and yield. The entire production process of the frame-type melt-blown filter cartridge is optimized, and the traditional output of 1000 per day is upgraded to 1300. Overall, the processing speed is increased by up to 30%. |
